The book’s chapters focus on mental health challenges linked to heavy technology use. They include how social media sites may spawn narcissism (no surprise there) and how constantly checking our wireless mobile devices (he calls them W.M.D.’s, a great acronym) can lead to obsessive-compulsive disorder. Others look at how technology addiction can lead to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and at how all that medical data available online has created a class of people known as “cyberchondriacs.” Perhaps most interesting of all, Dr. Rosen examines how the constant use of technology may be rewiring our brains. One study he cites calls the impact on memory the “Google effect,” that is, an inability to remember facts brought on by the realization that they are all available in a few keystrokes via Google.

… One often-suggested solution is to take a “tech break.” In other words, if overusing your iPad is making you crazy, maybe you should stop using it so much. I know: duh. But still.

For those combating some form of techno-addiction, Dr. Rosen advises regularly stepping away from the computer for a few minutes and connecting with nature; just standing in your driveway and staring at the bushes, research shows, has a way of resetting our brains.